Dispensers for roll paper towels have been well known for some time. Such dispensers are commonly placed in lavatories, near sinks, and in public restrooms to enable users to dry their hands after washing. Typically, a paper towel dispenser is mounted on a wall adjacent a sink or other handwashing station. The dispensers are usually hand operated by the user, and dispense a length of paper towel according to pulling action by the user. Some dispensers are provided with an actuating mechanism for dispensing the paper towels, and also intended to help prevent unchecked dispensing of the paper towels, which causes waste of paper.
The prior art includes various attempts to design paper towel dispensers having mechanisms for preventing excess dispensing of paper towels. A typical approach to this problem is some type of metering mechanism requiring a user to push an activating button or lever, or wait a predetermined time before another paper towel can be pulled from the dispenser. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,664,304 issued to Wendt et al. describes a metering mechanism having a button which must be depressed by the user for each predetermined amount of paper towel to be dispensed. As shown in the figures, such an actuating button is typically interconnected with a drive mechanism or other moving parts which function in the act of dispensing. At times, gears and other moving parts connected to the button will break or disengage therefrom, rendering the button useless.
Because of the materials used in a work area or for ease of cleaning, locations where paper towel dispensers are commonly found are designed with ferrous metal surfaces that make attachment by conventional fasteners difficult. In particular, for example, wall partitions dividing stalls in a restroom facility are likely to be manufactured of metal, usually a ferrous metal. The skilled will recognize that the term “ferrous” as described in standard English dictionaries means “containing iron.” A ferrous metal, for example, will display magnetic attraction, so that a magnet will attach to the metal. Accordingly, an embodiment of this invention is contemplated that would allow conventional fasteners to be replaced by one or more magnets for attaching the dispenser to ferrous metal walls or surfaces. This feature would eliminate the need to drill one or more holes into the metal surface in order to attach the dispenser, thus preventing the potential for corrosion between the fastener and the metal wall and greatly facilitating the installation process.
In view of the foregoing, there continues to be a need for a roll paper towel dispenser structured to provide a user with a single paper towel at a time, and not requiring any affirmative action by the user, other than pulling out the paper towel. Additionally, a roll paper towel dispenser having a metering mechanism not easily accessible to a user would be more tamper resistant and would help prevent intentional damage to the dispenser. Further, a dispensing control mechanism that is relatively simple, inexpensively fabricated, and easily maintained would be advantageous.